“You know we’re going to be called on if we sit in the front row, right?”

(From left to right: me, Justin Willman, Marcus Monroe, Cory)

Last night I went to see Justin Willman at SF Sketchfest, and IT WAS AMAZING. I love magic shows in general and I had seen him on Ellen before (here and here), so I was super excited when I found out just a few days ago that he’d be performing in San Francisco on Thursday night.

I immediately bought 2 tickets without even knowing who would come with me. First I invited a girl to come, but when that didn’t work out, I asked my only remaining single-guy-friend Cory. (Thankfully he said yes.)

Traffic to SF was not great, but we still got there relatively early; there were maybe 20 people there, and the entire front row by the stage was open. At first the usher took us to the third row, but I requested that we sit in the front row. Cory was a bit hesitant and asked me a few times if we could sit in the back instead, but I insisted.

“You know we’re going to be called on, right?” he said, trying to change my mind even after we had sat down.

“Yeah, but I’m trying to get outside of my comfort zone. Plus it’s a magic show…I want to be up close to see it.”

“O-kay…”

Truth be told I was pretty nervous…yes, I wanted to see the action up close, but I didn’t want to be called on stage as a volunteer. I never had a desire to be in the front row before, and if it hadn’t been for the whole magic thing I wouldn’t have bothered. In any case, I was relieved that more people sat in the front row by the time the show started…it would not have been good if we were the only people up front.

The opener/emcee started talking to me pretty early in her act – luckily all I had to do was to shake my head. When Marcus Monroe, the second performer, came out, he shook everybody’s hand in the front row (side note, he had remarkably soft hands). That was the extent of my interaction with him during his act, and then it was Justin’s turn. For one of his first tricks he asked me to pick a fruit or vegetable, and I said, “Zucchini.” For the rest of the show he kept on referring to me as zucchini, and I also had to introduce myself in front of the audience for a later trick (but didn’t have to go on stage).

Overall, though, it wasn’t too embarrassing, and I loved being front and center to watch all his magic tricks. I really can’t describe in words how much I enjoyed it…the magic really made me feel like a kid again, and on top of that his comedy was really funny.

The bonus for the night was Marcus Monroe, who I hadn’t heard of before – he’s known as a juggler (he’s juggling knives in the picture below), but he was also hilarious. Honestly, the entire show was so entertaining that I’m not sure if I’ll ever see another comedy or magic show that will be as good.